Estate Planning Archives - Page 8 of 10 - Law Offices of Daniel Timins

When Should I (and Shouldn’t I) Have My Attorney Hold On to My Original Will?

Posted on September 21, 2015

An original will is a powerful legal document: It is almost always required to start a Probate proceeding, meaning that several estate plans could be confounded in its absence. This makes a will a very important document. The cynic in me gets extremely perturbed when I see an attorney presume possession of his client’s original will. This attorney is forcing the family to come back to him when the decedent dies, thereby getting a “second bite of the apple” by being in the best position to do the Probate. I have heard of 70 year old attorneys holding onto a 30 year old client’s original will, then the dying or going out of business before reuniting his client and

Destroy Your Old Will! Avoiding Problematic Probates

Posted on September 9, 2015

To probate a will you typically need the original document for the courts to commence the legal proceeding. Unlike Trusts, LLC Operating Agreements, Powers of Attorney, etc., where a copy shall typically suffice, a valid will is expected to be an original will. So what happens when there are two original wills that differ from one another? It’s more expensive: The first sentence of 99.9% of all wills is “I hereby revoke all wills and codicils.” This means that any previous version of an will is superseded by the new, most recent will. It also means that those parties who have been adversely-affected by the new will, must be given formal legal notice of the new will being offered

Why ITF & TOD Accounts Are (Sometimes) Worse Ways of Transferring Assets than Using a Will

Posted on August 24, 2015

If you read my blogpost dated August 8th, 2015 you saw my argument stating that “In Trust For” and “Transfer on Death” accounts are better ways of transferring your assets than using a will because these transfers are accomplished quickly, free of legal expenses, and are not public information. Transferring assets by probating a will, on the other hand, is not immediate, which assesses court filing fees and legal costs, and makes it a public affair. But I only told you one side of the story… There are several instances in which transferring assets by probating your will may be preferable, especially when utilizing a “Testamentary Trust” in your Last Will and Testament. While I can appreciate that the following

How to Protect the Aging from Aging Issues

Posted on July 26, 2015

How does a person protect an aging family member who still has some decision making abilities? Waning decision making abilities are more likely for people as they age. I see elderly people get increasingly frustrated by mixing up their family members’ names, forgetting what they were talking about in mid-sentence, reminiscing about events that never took place. These individuals can still make certain decisions at certain times, but are not really 100% competent. The problem is that courts are loath to consider these people incapacitated, so younger family members are stuck worrying that a financial predator will strike the aging client in a moment of weakness. MONEY: When paid care givers are working at the homes of these individuals, it

THE SILENT TWIN: How State Estate Taxes Have Replaced Federal Estate Tax Planning

Posted on July 17, 2015

To any one of a number of government entities the average person can be boiled down to one category: We are revenue-generating machines. Federal, state and local government entities know how to get their funding, as it seems almost every aspect of life (and yes, death too) is now taxable. And next to actually having to pay all these taxes, the most frustrating thing about taxes are that they are never as intuitively straight-forward as one would suspect. I met with a couple recently who is domiciled in New York. Their net worth is approximately $8,000,000, they are semi-retired, and their retirement income is substantial. Assets include a nice Manhattan apartment, a large sum of money in several retirement plans,

Contracts: Your Will and the Probate Process

Posted on July 17, 2015

Many people aren’t aware of the number of contracts that apply to them every day. Like all contracts, there are at least two parties to any given contract: Your bank account was opened by signing a contract under the bank’s terms; your attendance at the Yankee game is contingent on you following the 2 point font contractual terms on the back of the ticket; the credit card receipt you signed to pay for lunch today is a contract; even the US Constitution is a contract between “we the people” and the US government (though many would say one party is gravely in breach of their end of the bargain, but that is for someone else’s blog to address). Your Last

Smart Ideas for Making Your Agents Known (When Needed)

Posted on June 27, 2015

Too many attorneys make the mistake of not informing a person’s Power of Attorney, Health Care Agent or Executor that he/she has been named as a person’s agent or, even worse, not telling a client how to inform these people of their responsibilities. These practitioners appear to have the attitude of “I’ve been paid, you have your legal documents, let’s both move onto the next thing in our lives.” While this does not rise to the level of legal malpractice, it certainly is inconsiderate and potentially dangerous: These documents are not public record. If there is an emergency, how is a Health Care Agent going to be identified by the admitting health care facility? The documents may be hard to

Giving to the Right Charity at the Funeral: Using Your “DORA”

Posted on June 26, 2015

I attended the wake of my friend Michael on Monday. He was a funny, likable, handsome man of 29 years of age and died unexpectedly. Like so many other people, I will miss Michael’s good humor and positive attitude. At the wake I noticed that his family had requested that any people who were so inclined could make a charitable donation to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Here was a young man who had no idea his passing was imminent, and his family had decided to ask for donations for a cause that was relevant to him, but he may never have voiced an opinion for or significantly donated to himself. And it suddenly hit me: I have

Tell Your Estate Attorney About All of Your Assets

Posted on June 8, 2015

Some people are naturally secretive about their finances. People either feel judge by the level of their assets if they believe they don’t have enough, or they don’t trust anyone enough to say where all of their assets are. And so stock certificates are held in file cabinets, cash is stuffed in loose books, funds are held overseas, and random banks and passbooks hold small account balances. My message to you: Secrecy may cost you dearly when you pass away. Whenever you earn interest, the IRS receives a 1099 from the financial institution. When I have a recently deceased client whom I suspect has withheld account information (despite my urgings to let me know during her lifetime) I ask the

Give It Back! New York Turnover Proceedings

Posted on May 20, 2015

When a person passes away many people have a tendency of ransacking the decedent’s home and absconding with property. Co-Signers run to the bank to empty the safe deposit box (which they are NOT allowed to do in New York), people with access to the house take all types of personal belongings (so you know, the door locks should be changed immediately), and some people illegally use the decedent’s credit cards. Other people will accumulate mail containing financial information, then act as they see fit. Other times people will have an incapacitated person sign a Power of Attorney or blank checks, or even forge the signature. When that person dies the property that was supposed to go to one person goes to